Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) Increases Dividend to $0.51 Per Share

Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of 0.51 per share on Friday, July 26th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from Sysco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Sysco has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 55 years. Sysco has a payout ratio of 42.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sysco to earn $4.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.7%.

Sysco Price Performance

NYSE:SYY opened at $77.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. Sysco has a one year low of $62.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.00, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. Sysco had a net margin of 2.69% and a return on equity of 105.22%. The firm had revenue of $19.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Sysco’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Sysco will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sysco

In other news, CAO Neil Russell sold 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $137,760.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,926,560. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sysco from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Sysco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Stephens lifted their price target on Sysco from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Sysco from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.38.

Sysco Company Profile

Sysco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and distribution of various food and related products to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and internationally. It operates through U.S. Foodservice Operations, International Foodservice Operations, SYGMA, and Other segments.